On the day following Rachel Maddow’s debut on MSNBC, the FOX Bobble-Head Brigade was on the attack. Their offensive attacks on Maddow and on MSNBC as a whole were off the mark. Should we be surprised by the desperate attacks on Dr. Maddow or upon MSNBC as a whole? Not really. Unfortunately for the viewers at home, the reality is that Rupert Murdock and Roger Ailes have taken the ratings war personally. While it may be true that Fixed. . .er Fox News has higher day time ratings than MSNBC, Fox News’ ratings often reflect a much older demographic than the ones that most networks have focused upon. MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann is extremely popular with the key demographic of 18 to 24, and are strong in the rest of the demographics. Despite their attempts to cook the numbers, Olbermann’s Countdown, hosted a number of times this summer by Maddow, has beaten Bill O’Reilly’s The O’Reilly Factor in terms of ratings over the last several months.The attacks came in the wake of the decision by MSNBC to pull both liberal icon Keith Olbermann and conservative icon Chris Matthews from their election night coverage. Olbermann, Matthews and Joseph Scarborough got into a massive argument that was partially aired. All three lost their objectivity during the most heated moments of the Republican Convention which saw the Republicans chant in an angry mob like tone ‘NBC, NBC!" whenever the words East Coast Elites were mentioned. The fight between the three TV personalities on MSNBC was visible enough to even get commented upon by Jon Stewart of the Daily Show during an interview with NBC anchor Brian Williams. When asked about the incident, Williams commented that "every family has their issues," to which Stewart replied "yes, but why do they have to be the Lohans." It is reminiscent of Fox News’ decision to pull Ann Coulter from their election line up during the 2004 election, though her comments were far more inflammatory.
Tim Graham of the Conservative media watchdog group Media Research Center was asked by Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade "[I]s the damage done already? I mean, look, we're almost done with this thing. Fifty-something days left." To which he replied, "not only is the damage already done, the damage continues. I mean, not only are they keeping these people on for an hour a night, they're adding this lesbian Air America radio host, Rachel Maddow, on every night. So, I mean, they're really entrenching and solidifying a left-wing agenda on this network, not just, you know, pulling something back." No mention was made that Rachel Maddow holds a PhD in Political Science and is probably better qualified than Mr. Kilmeade to comment on politics and a whole host of topics.The reality of this starts long before the decision by MSNBC to pull Olbermann and Matthews from their Election Night coverage. As you, the readers, may remember, a story posted to our site by Sylvia concerning Dr. Maddow’s make over for her show. http://www.lesbiatopia.com/2008/09/maddows-makeover.html This story originated with Rupert Murdock’s New York Post, and may have been an attempt to stir up controversy among the LGBTI community in order to undermine Maddow’s show. After all, if Maddow is able to keep Countdown high in the ratings while Olbermann is on vacation, then she is certainly a threat to Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes. They’re afraid that the nation is taking a jump to the Left, and that their market share is slipping.
Dr. Maddow’s show, the Rachel Maddow Show, airs Monday through Friday at 9pm after Countdown with Keith Olbermann. It is also available at MSNBC’s website. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ Please give the website at least an hour to catch up with the aired show.
For the original story- http://mediamatters.org/items/200809090008?f=h_latest
